Poprocks and Coke
by Maaya
Summary: Sanzo and Goku shares a motel room. See Sanzo cheer Goku up in his normal Sanzo way.


*cough* This one-shot was originally part of my series 'Tales from the Jeep', which I decided I wouldn't have time to continue. But I saw no reason to why I couldn't post this part as a one-shot instead.  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own Saiyuki or any of its characters.  
  
The title is taken from a song by Green Day. By a CD with them, you won't be disappointed. Anyway, I chose the song because I thought it'd fit Goku in this story. Basically, it goes something like "Wherever you go, you know I'll be there, if you go far, you know I'll be there..." and "I don't care if you don't mind, I'll be there not far behind, I'll be there for you..."  
  
My word program asked me if I wanted to change 'Gojyo' to 'goodie'. Hmm...I wonder.... ^_^  
  
***  
  
Poprocks and Coke by Maaya  
  
***  
  
Somewhere in the distance, one could hear a wolf howling, searching for companionship. Goku idly listened to the sad sound and felt a shiver creeping down his spine, despite the warmth of the blankets he was cuddled into. He'd sometimes heard lonely wolves' howls during his time in the mountain (it was one of the few sounds he ever heard) and when he did, he had usually answered with lonely cries of his own. It had been nice to hear his voice join the wolf's and feel how the knot of loneliness in his chest momentarily loosened.  
  
Tonight, the boy fought his urge to answer though, because it would have been more out of habit than anything else if he did. Because he wasn't really lonely anymore, was he? Letting his gaze focus upon his caretaker, Goku didn't break it as he rolled over onto his stomach and pulled his arms free from the cocoon of blankets to fold them under his head. He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and set to observe the blonde man he shared a room with.  
  
Sanzo sat in the only chair the room provided, robes folded down and reading glasses perched on his nose, reading a newspaper. For Sanzo, that was as sloppy as it would ever get. And it looked as if he thought the paper would attack him, that concentrated was the reading-expression he worse on his face. It was an expression similar to when he killed youkai during one of the many attacks they endured. The monkey boy thought a bit before hesitatingly venturing. "Hey Sanzo...I don't think that the paper will bite you, no matter how much you provoke it."  
  
It was maybe a little out of character, but he was tired. It had been a long day. The fact that the wolf's howl had caused him to remember his many long years in the mountain prison didn't help much to ease his mood.  
  
"Shut up." Sanzo didn't even look up from his newspaper. Great. Apparently, Goku wasn't even worth a single glance anymore. Or maybe Sanzo didn't respond to him because Goku had said something rather dumb in the first place.  
  
Gojyo had once asked Goku why he stayed together with the undoubtedly rude monk, when Sanzo didn't treat him any better than dirt. At the time, Goku had been surprised by the question, and never really answered it, just shrugged mutely. Hakkai had interrupted Gojyo when the red-haired man had looked like he wanted to continue his questioning.  
  
Goku followed Sanzo. He would never leave him. Did he need a reason to why? Maybe, maybe not. But it still bugged him.  
  
"Sorry." The boy mumbled into his pillow of arms that somewhat covered his mouth. "Sanzo, I'm tired."  
  
"Then go to sleep."  
  
Another, weaker howl came from the outside, probably carried by the wind from somewhere far, far away.  
  
"I don't want to."  
  
The blonde man sighed quietly and lowered the newspaper. Over it, he stared at Goku for a long moment. Goku looked back mutely, keeping himself from asking 'what?' and wondering what the monk saw at that moment. What did Sanzo see when he looked at Goku?  
  
When the boy looked at Sanzo, he saw someone he knew, someone familiar and someone...he felt happy to see. Was it selfish to follow Sanzo around because he himself was happy around the blonde monk? Was it even more selfish to wish that Sanzo would feel happy when he saw Goku too? But the latter felt so unreachable it almost wasn't worth to mention.  
  
He was just beginning to feel squirmy under Sanzo's studying eyes, when the man silently stood up and moved over to his bag in the corner.  
  
"Sa..." Goku started, but snapped his mouth shut again when the monk began to dig in his bag, and then pull out a paper. An orange sheet that had probably been kept between the pages in a book because of the lack of wrinkles. Without a word, Sanzo moved back to his chair and sat down again. Goku watched as he, still silently, began to fold the paper strangely, first once in the middle, then he edges outwards several times until it was shaped like...an arrow maybe? Or....  
  
"Sanzo...what is that?" Goku sat up, interested, and completely ignoring that his blankets carefully wrapped around him now fell down, exposing him to the chilly night air the thin walls of the motel couldn't keep out. "Hey, what is it?"  
  
Sanzo held it up discreetly. It was as if he was trying to appear like he was merely observing the folded piece of paper himself, but he held it just a little too high and Goku guessed he did it just to let him see. "It is an airplane."  
  
The younger boy leaned forward. "What is it used for?"  
  
A snort. "It flies."  
  
"Show me?"  
  
But the monk shook his head, disappointing Goku. "Not now. It has to be outside."  
  
"Why?" Goku wondered. He loved it when Sanzo told him things, explained them to him. It didn't happen very often anymore, but he still remembered when he had been younger, and Sanzo had showed him how to write. And explained the rules of life. What was allowed and what wasn't.  
  
"The orange makes the blue sky at day look good. And the blue makes the orange look good." Sanzo replied, fingering on the airplane thoughtfully. "They bring out each other's best. It's beautiful."  
  
"Really..." Goku breathed, eyeing the plane in the creators long fingers, with innocently wide-eyes awe. He wasn't really sure why, but he got the feeling that this. Whatever 'this' was, meant a lot to Sanzo. And whatever Sanzo cared about, Goku cared about. "Then can we do it tomorrow? Sanzo, can we?"  
  
The blonde monk nodded, just the slightest hind of a smile tugging the corners of his lips upwards. "Aaa. Let's." And with that, he returned to his newspaper again, the plane placed carefully onto the table.  
  
Goku lay down again, pulling the blankets up to his chin. Something inside his chest felt easier now, after having talked to Sanzo. His caretaker was the only one who could make him depressed, but also the only one who could make him truly happy. But it wasn't just happiness. It was a feeling of...belonging in his stomach that felt good. More than good actually, but he couldn't find words to describe it.  
  
When Gojyo asked why he followed Sanzo around, the water sprite showed exactly how little he really knew. Sanzo wasn't cold-hearted. It was just that he only showed his softer side to certain, specifically chosen people, and not around other people. Not even Goku got to see that side very often, but it was there, and he had found that it appeared more and more often during the night when they spent time alone.  
  
It was in order to see more of it he followed Sanzo. As long as he knew the man had emotions inside that enclosed heart of his, Goku would follow him to the end of the world.  
  
***  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
Oh, cheesy, aren't we? ^^;  
  
C&C welcome, as always, and I apologize about the grammar errors...as always.  
  
- Omake - (I couldn't help it)  
  
"Ehh?" Gojyo muttered tiredly. They always left too damn early in the morning, thanks to a certain blonde monk. But today, when he arrived to the jeep, he only found Hakkai there waiting for him in the driver's seat. "Where are the monk and the monkey?"  
  
"They said they had something to do." Hakkai smiled. Like always. Gojyo wondered if Hakkai always found a reason to smile, or maybe he just found Gojyo's face laughable, since he always smiled around him.  
  
"Something to do?"  
  
"Aaa. Throw an airplane." The monocle-wearing man gestured towards a scene on the motel garden where Sanzo and Goku watched an orange airplane fly, carried my small winds.  
  
Gojyo raised an eyebrow. "Right."  
  
Hakkai shrugged.  
  
- End Omake - 


End file.
